(#133) #197 + #198: Espeon and Umbreon (Eevee part two)

Yeah, there's still more. If you haven't read part one, go do so now, then I can skip the Eevee stuff and say that you'll see a lot of stuff recycled.

We'll jump straight into Espeon, a psychic-type. You get the 65s in HP and attack, 60 in defence, 95 in special defence, a nice 130 in special attack and 110 in speed, which sits nicely for a special sweeper. The standard ability of synchronise means that if you get a status condition, your foe will also get it, and outside of battle it makes it more likely that you will find a Pokemon with the same nature as the synchronise team leader. The hidden ability you can get is magic bounce, which reflects incoming status affliction moves such as toxic, as well as arena hazards and taunts and torments. Espeon evolves from Eevee when levelled up with high happiness during the day.

Another normal animal with a split tail and a jewel in its face...

Skirting around all the moves Eevee has covered and that reappeared in all the other Eeveelutions, we see confusion come in as the early STAB move (a base 50 psychic special with the chance to confuse the foe), and swift (base 60 special normal that basically doesn't miss unless the target is in the semi-invulnerable or behind protect) slots in after quick attack. Psybeam is added to the list where the fang moves have been, acting as a base 65 psychic special with a slight chance of causing confusion, and future sight hits as a base 120 psychic special after a couple of turns. Psych up copies the stat changes of the opponent, both positive and negative, and morning sun offers healing based on the weather: normal - 50%HP, sunny - 67%HP and rain - 25%HP. Psychic is one of the best moves on offer here a a base 90 psychic special attack, and the last move that tucks in after last resort is power swap (swaps the changes to the attacking stats between the user and the target).

Taking the standard Eevee TM list (which is just a bigger standard list), you can also grab psyshock (base 80 psychic special move that hits the foe's defence), along with psychic itself, dream eater (inflicts damage and drains a sleeping foe's HP at base 100 psychic damage), and dazzling gleam (a fairy special attack base 80 that hits adjacent foes). You can also take grass knot. The tutor can bestow magic coat and magic room, signal beam, zen headbutt, skill swap and trick on top of the routine ones.

Rather than evolving during the day, if you evolve at night you get Umbreon. Yeah, these two were basically made to show off the in game clock introduced in generation two. Umbreon has a significantly weaker offensive presence, with 65 for attack and speed and 60 for special attack, but it makes up for this with some bulk: 95HP, 110 defence and 130 special defence. You're a dark-type, y'know, with the night and such. You again get synchronise, but the hidden ability this time around is inner focus, which prevents flinching.

As another Sonic tribute, we have rings...

The inserted moves into the basic set this time feature pursuit, a base 40 dark physical move that hits a switching target before it can leave the battle and hits double what it normally would. Further to this, there is also confuse ray, which is rapidly followed by feint attack (inflicts a hit of base 60 dark physical without input of evasion or accuracy stats, like swift) and assurance, which is base 60 dark physical that hits twice as hard if the foe has already sustained damage, including recoil. Screech drops the target's defence by two stages, moonlight heals just the way morning sun did, mean look traps the foe in battle, and guard swap, which switches changes in the defensive stats with the foe.

If we move on to the TM list, you get the addition of taunt, psychic, payback, dream eater, dark pulse (which can cause flinching) and snarl (dark special base 55 that hits all adjacent foes and lowers their special attack by a stage). The tutor can grant spite, wonder room, snatch and foul play.

Even though these two were pretty much exclusively put in the game to show off the new timer mechanics, these are arguably the best two of the Eeveelutions, not just so far, but overall. Umbreon fills a nice niche that hasn't really come up as a dark-type tank with some decent attacks, which is pretty interesting. That being said, they aren't anything too amazing once again.

(All artwork presented by Ken Sugimori, taken from the Bulbapedia image archives)